Game Recap #10: Denver Nuggets 97 – Chicago Bulls 87

The Bulls kept pace with the Nuggets for 3 quarter or so before falling victim to Nate Robinson and the Nuggets on Thursday night. Their record is now 6-4.

In a first half characterized by a blistering pace (by the Bulls standards), the Bulls saw a brief return to form from Derrick Rose, who was getting to the rim at will and finishing over everyone the Nuggets threw at him, finishing with 17 points in the half. Eventually, the Nuggets’ depth and pace wore the Bulls down, as they finished shooting 38% from the field. Not a whole lot of bright spots in this one, as every Bulls starter shot under 50% with the exception of Mike Dunleavy, who led a brief run midway through the 4th that brought the deficit to 11. All in all, a worrying performance to start this road trip, which only gets harder from here.

Joakim Noah (4-10, 11 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists) and Carlos Boozer (7-18, 15 points, 10 rebounds) had double doubles, but were generally outperformed by their counterparts J.J. Hickson (6-11, 14 points, 9 rebounds) and Kenneth Faried (5-9, 12 points, 11 rebounds). Without Jimmy Butler, Dunleavy started at the 2, and the Bulls’ bench suffered for it, being outscored by Denver’s 41-21. The Bulls next play tomorrow night in Portland, which hopefully won’t be as disheartening as tonight was.

Player of the Game: Mike Dunleavy

About Brian Schroeder

Brian became a Bulls fan in 2001 at the middle of the dark ages of Marcus Fizer, Jay Williams, and Tyrus Thomas. As a result he has a particular form of hyper-pessimism that he's here to bring to you. You can follow Brian on Twitter at @Cosmis